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Does a light bulb know that it is on or off? That it exists? Normally, in order to answer these questions we would look at the empirical evidence, and the evid
by lottin 8y ago
Does a light bulb know that it is on or off? That it exists?
Normally, in order to answer these questions we would look at the empirical evidence, and the evidence in favour that inanimate objects have self-awareness is completely non-existent.
On the other hand, the evidence that animals have self-awareness is overwhelmingly strong.
Thus, it is reasonable to conclude that inanimate objects aren't self-aware but that people and animals are. (And of course this also means that is NOT reasonable to conclude otherwise.)
- ForHackernews 8y agoSee also: https://coronaradiata.net/2012/12/24/does-a-thermostat-have-consciousness/ https://coronaradiata.net/2012/12/24/does-a-thermostat-have-...
- gmueckl 8y agoWe attribute self-awareness (or other attributes) based on the results of behavioral tests that we perform on the test subject. Assume, for the sake of the argument, that I built a machine that exhibits the same kind of self-awareness as an elephant. So it would recognize itself in a mirror test etc... So if it manages to pass all these tests, is it self-aware? According to Ernst Mach, two things that are indistinguishable by observation are actually equal. This is essentially a part of the Chinese Room Argument: how can you draw a distinction between two things, when you cannot observe it?